Singing at the Barbican

After thinking about it since September, I finally plucked up the courage to visit and audition for the Crouch End Festival Chorus (CEFC) just over a month ago. Meeting people who sing in the chorus and hearing their positive reviews helped convince me to give it a try, and I’m particularly grateful to those who encouraged me to audition despite my reservations about Friday rehearsals and the general time commitment. Luckily, I passed the audition and was placed among the 1st Sopranos. CEFC is an amazing group of ~130 singers, led by the dedicated and passionate David Temple. Many chorus members are in the 23-33-year-old age range, which makes for a nice mix of energy, experience, and socializing. CEFC also appealed to me for the range of repertoire it sings: from Thomas Tallis to Bach to Mahler to premieres of new commissions. Not to mention they rehearse just up the road from where I live…hard to beat that in a city as big as London!

I had missed singing in a big chorus — aside from brief stints with the Sniatyn teachers’ choir in Ukraine and the UCLU Symphony Chorus last term, I hadn’t sung in a “real” chorus since my Oberlin Musical Union days (on which I still look back very fondly). CEFC has more than adequately filled the gap in my musical participation.

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My first concert with CEFC was singing at London’s Barbican — home to the London Symphony Orchestra, no big deal — along with the Forest Philharmonic. On the program(me):

The world premiere of a piece by contemporary composer Will Todd, “Rage Against the Dying of the Light,” with text based on the Dylan Thomas poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.”

Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection,” which I sang my senior year at Oberlin with Musical Union and the Oberlin Orchestra, in a memorable performance that left me with an adrenaline rush for an hour or two afterwards.

After getting over a burst of nerves and lightheadedness during the afternoon rehearsal, I felt calmer for the performance and remembered how amazing it is to finally perform pieces that have been meticulously rehearsed for weeks. The orchestra sounded great — the Todd piece, which many of the chorus members seemed either to love or hate, was greatly enhanced by the instrumentation that we had little sense of when rehearsing with piano accompaniment. The Mahler was thrilling to sing, as always — sitting through an hour of intense orchestral music to finally stand and sing the finale feels incredible.

Next up for CEFC, a total change of period and pace: sacred music by Tallis, Vaughan Williams, Tavener and others performed in Waltham Abbey and Southwark Cathedral in June. I’m already looking forward to it.